Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Brewpub hops to top in Telluride

Socorro Springs earns 'Best of Fest' honors at blues, brews event

Gerald Garner Jr. El Defensor Chieftain Editor

Mic and Molley Heynekamp knew they tapped into something special when their Socorro Springs Restaurant and Brewery opened nearly a decade ago.

Now, nine years later, the local brewpub is on top of the hops after earning "Best of Fest" honors at the fabled Telluride Blues and Brews Festival.

It's not the first time the local establishment made a big splash at the festival. In 2005, Socorro Springs also took top honors — a feat that, to the best of Mic's knowledge, no other participating brewery has accomplished.

"We are the only New Mexico brewery to win the 'Best of Fest' award and we're pretty sure that no other brewery has ever taken the award twice," Mic said during an interview.

Competing against 52 other breweries from around the Southwest and beyond — including such staples as Samuel Adams, New Belgium, Anchor Steam, Stone, and Sweet Water Brewery (last year's Best of Fest winner) — Socorro Springs poured its way to the head of the pint glass class with a trio of its signature offerings: Pick Axe IPA, Heynekamp Dutch Lager and Pumpkin.

While Mic concedes that the IPA and lager offerings were instrumental in helping secure the award, he said it was the pumpkin beer that created the buzz that won it for them.

"We took the Heynekamp and Pick Axe because they are our best selling beers," he said. "But we knew we had to set ourselves apart from the rest of the competitors so we took our pumpkin."

It was the right choice as festival-goers went out of their gourds to get a taste of frothy fall treat.

"People were talking about it all over the place," Mic said with a proud grin. "Lots of breweries came by to taste this one specifically."

The Heynekamps said that while some of the "bigger" breweries were passing out plenty of product-related booty, it was Socorro Springs' down-to-earth, simply business approach that won the crowds over and earned the biggest cheers.

Pounds of praise

The format for picking this year's winner changed.

Instead of clipboard-wielding judges moving from booth to booth, Grand Tasting participants were given poker chips and told to place the chip in the best brewery's cup.

With more than 50 cups to choose from, Mic said he eventually saw a medium bowl with Socorro Springs chips in it, prompting a bit of worry.

"I thought the chips looked a little light," he said. "But then they took the bowl and dumped it into a giant bucket and it just blew my mind."

In all, the local brewery's bucket boasted nearly three pounds of chips — more than double what the buckets of the runners up held.

Mic, Molley and their three children were eventually called up on stage to accept the award. Standing before a sea of 9,000 people was "an amazing experience."

Brewing up success

Under the watchful eye of brewmaster KC McFadden, Socorro Springs has come a long way.

What began as a quartet of recipes developed from home brewing has grown to an arsenal of more than 25 offerings. At any given time, McFadden — who happens to be Molley's brother — has up to eight of his favorite creations ready for the taps.

Once he gets a particular recipe down, KC doesn't feel the need to make wholesale changes. Instead, small modifications to the individual brews over long periods of time help to keep continuity in the brewery's offerings.

While this practice is welcomed by their loyal, local fans, KC enjoys stepping out of this apparent comfort zone to do something he loves — make new beers.

Although somewhat tight-lipped about what might grace the taps in the near future, KC is confident that something special is definitely on Socorro Springs' horizon.

"We've got to make room for a third trophy," KC said with a smile.

Mic, however, is still savoring the flavor of winning his second Best of Fest award in four years.

"It's awesome winning this two times," he said. "It proves the first one wasn't a fluke.

"We're biased, but the people have spoken," he continued. "Simply put, this validates the quality of our product. We have a strong local following and now a national audience has concurred."

The Heynekamps will host a celebration Saturday, Sept. 27, to toast their loyal patrons and the recent accolade.

"We just want a chance to have our customers — especially those who weren't able to make it to Telluride — celebrate with us," Mic said. "It's going to be an all-day affair and everyone is welcome."

ggarner@dchieftain.com

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